A Christmas Feast

Well, it happened again.

Regular readers here will remember last year's report about the meal our staff had together at a local Italian restaurant. Fitzrovia is around the corner from the church, and I tend to eat there about once a week. The Palermo family own the place, and I've enjoyed getting to know them over the last almost two years. Last year our staff had our Christmas meal there, and yesterday we did the same thing. Here's how it went.

Gianni started us off with some steamed asparagus and slices of eggplant roasted with cheese and marinara sauce. He makes a garlic bread out of pizza dough, and we soaked up the extra, well, everything with that.

Next we each got a small portion of gnocchi with fresh pesto sauce, which was unbelievable.

The main course was duck breast in a blackcurrant glaze, along with spinach, broccoli and roasted potatoes. None of us probably would have ordered duck for our meal, but it was delicious and interesting and we ate every bit of it.

We finished with tiramisu and creme brulee, and then waddled back to the church.

There are two things I'd like to say publicly about our staff Christmas lunch. First, thanks to Gianni and his family for hosting us again. Having friends in the neighborhood makes working here so much better, and being able to celebrate with them is a special blessing.

Mostly, though, I want to say thank you to the great team we have at the American Church in London. We're on a good run right now: attendance is up, people are making commitments to give of their time, talent and treasure, and we're all growing in our faith in Christ and our sense of call in his name.

None of this would be happening without the gifts and hard work of the team at our church, and I want to say here how grateful I am for their support, their challenge and their commitment to this place.

Merry Christmas.